On March 19th and 20th, 2011, the Desert Classic Tour once again made it’s trip over to Stingers Sports Bar & Grill in Glendale, AZ. The event again was Bar Table 8-ball on the Diamond Smart Tables. 38 players came out to try and take home the cash and the Points List points which help determine the top 8 seeded players in the finale at the end of the year. This was Stop #2 on the Tour for 2011 and all the big names showed up to claim stake.
On the winners side of the board it came down to Mike Sandoval beating Ramon Rodriguez, Bobby Emmons beating Jerry Stuckart, Tres Kane beating George Teyechea and Chuck Evans beating Mitch Ellerman to complete Saturday’s play as the Final 4 of the winners’ side and to get in the money.
Over on the other side of the board many players were trying to do that same thing. George Teyechea scored wins against Gus Briseno and Chris Bradford before losing a heartbreak hill-hill match with Jerry Stuckart. Ken Gouso also ended up one out of the money when Ramon was able to close out the match. Nick De Leon bested Dennis Orender to setup a Sunday Match with Mitch Ellerman. Nick lost his very first match to Chuck Evans and fought all the way through the losers side of the board to get to Sunday.
The final 8 on Sunday were Mike Sandoval vs Bobby Emmons and Tres Kane vs Chuck Evans. Mike and Chuck both won those decisions to advance to the hotseat match. Over on the other side of the board Mitch Ellerman beat Nick De Leon 7 – 3 and Jerry Stuckart beat Ramon Rodriquez 5 – 4. Bobby Emmons ended Mitch’s run 6 – 4 and Tres Kane ended Jerry’s run with a 6 – 2 victory. Mitch took home $100 and Jerry took home $100 plus 1st place in the B & Below Side pot for another $100.
Bobby bested Tres 6 -3 at the same time as Chuck closed the door on the Hot Seat Match, winning by a score of 6 – 1 over Mike Sandoval. In the 3rd place match, Mike was able to win the first couple of games before Bobby scratched multiple times and all but took himself out of the match. Bobby and Mike are roommates and joked back in forth throughout the match. Mike was able to finally close it out with a score of 6 – 4 to advance to his first DCT Finals event.
The finals turned out to be a replay of the hot seat match as Chuck got out early and often and Mike couldn’t seem to close out any of his racks. Mike was able to get a couple games back, but Chuck’s slow methodical play helped him to forge through the final racks and get the first place victory by a score of 6 – 2. Mike still took home a good chuck of cash as he was in all the sidepots and totaled $715. Chuck wasn’t in any of the sidepots, which left him with $840.
Congratulations to all the players from Stingers Sports Bar & Grill. A Special Thanks goes out to the owners and wait staff at Stingers. They did a fantastic job meeting everyone’s needs and to help control the UFC Fight crowd that rolled in late on Saturday Night.
Chuck 1st Place $840, Mike 2nd Place $715, Bobby 3rd Place $575, Tres 4th Place $220, Jerry 5th/6th $200, Mitch 5th/6th $100, Ramon & Nick 7th/8th each received Free Entry into another DCT Event.